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Equipment manufacturer, Liebherr, and Australian miner, Fortescue, have signed a USD2.8 billion deal for 475 zero emission mining vehicles. This marks a significant expansion of the pair’s collaboration. The main part of the deal is the delivery of 360 autonomous battery electric T 264 trucks (pictured), jointly developed by both Liebherr and Fortescue. This is in addition to 55 electric excavators and 60 battery powered dozers.
Advanced charging solutions with autonomous driving
The battery electric T 264 trucks will feature a zero emission battery power system developed by Fortescue Zer o, formerly Williams Advanced Engineering, alongside an Autonomous Haulage Solution co-developed by Liebherr and Fortescue. Both systems are designed to be retrofitted onto any existing Liebherr haulage trucks, enhancing their adaptability.
The Autonomous Haulage Solution also incorporates an advanced Energy Management System aimed at optimising charging operations by coordinating the static recharge assignments for the trucks. This ensures that the charging infrastructure is utilised to its full capacity, preventing any queuing onsite. To further support the autonomous battery electric trucks, Fortescue has implemented a stationary fast charging solution with robotic connection options, capable of delivering up to 6MW of power. This enables the current battery electric T 264 trucks to recharge in just 30 minutes, greatly improving operational efficiency and minimising downtime.
A timeline to fully autonomous battery electric
Validation of the fully autonomous battery electric solution is expected to be completed by early 2026. The T 264 trucks have already begun arriving at Fortescue’s operations in Western Australia, with the first deliveries reaching the Eliwana mine in October 2023. While the autonomous trucks are currently undergoing validation at Fortescue’s testing facility, their first operational deployment is expected in the first quarter of 2025.
READ: UN to introduce regulations on Autonomous Driving
Electrification and Decarbonisation of the Mining Industry
Mining vehicles are highly fuel intensive and endure a demanding usage regime, which results in them accounting for roughly 50% of onsite emissions in the mining sector. Although annual sales in the mining vehicle market remain limited, with around 12,000 units sold per year, these vehicles often have a lifespan exceeding 20 years. This combination of intensive usage and long service life presents significant challenges to decarbonising mining fleets. Nevertheless, the agreement between Liebherr and Fortescue signals the direction in which markets are moving.
Future Outlook and Battery Demand
While current battery demand for mining vehicles remains limited, projections from Rho Motion suggest that demand will accelerate towards 2030. The sector is expected to predominantly utilise NCM batteries due to the high energy density requirements of mining vehicles, however, where there is easy access to charging installations, LFP batteries could achieve parity due to their high cyclability.
More information
For more information about the decarbonisation of the mining sector and other off-road applications see our NRMM research, or get in touch.
Image Credit: Liebherr
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